FDMA
Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) seeks to share transponder capacity by dividing it up into slices of bandwidth based on frequency (illustrated in the center part of the diagram).
- FDMA is flexible and simple; each earth station has its own block of bandwidth, and a comparable portion of the transponder power as well.
- Since the total bandwidth and power of a transponder are limited, the sum of individual channels (carriers) is thus constrained.
- Present in an FDMA transponder is a noise floor composed of intermodulation distortion (IMD) which is managed by the satellite operator.
